The beneficial effects of employing auxiliary signaling assemblies have been disclosed in various U.S. Patents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,005,724 and 6,076,948, the teachings of which are incorporated herein. Yet further, numerous designs of signaling assemblies, having various semitransparent mirrors including dichroic, and electrochromic type mirrors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,014,167; 5,207,492; 5,355,284; 5,361,190; 5,481,409 and 5,528,422. These references are also incorporated by reference herein. Assemblies such as what is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,005,724 and 6,076,948 have been incorporated into other mirror assemblies such as electrochromic mirror assemblies as more fully shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,512,624, and 6,356,376, the teachings of which are also incorporated by reference herein. In addition to providing an auxiliary signaling device, such prior art assemblies have also included auxiliary lighting which has typically been remotely actuated in order to provide an exterior vehicle security light to aid and assist operators and passengers during night time hours. Examples of such assemblies are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,371,659 and 5,497,305 to name but a few.
While these prior art assemblies, as discussed above, have operated with a great deal of success, and have enjoyed wide commercial acceptance, there are shortcomings with respect to the individual designs which have detracted from their usefulness. For example, with respect to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,371,659 and 5,497,305 these particular assemblies, while effective for their intended purposes, are complex in their overall designs. This, of course, increases the cost of the resulting exterior mirror which incorporates same. As will be readily recognized from the study of the drawings of these respective prior art patents, the exterior mirror housing that must be utilized for this type of arrangement must be larger than what it would normally be merely because it needs to accommodate the assembly which projects visible light into the region adjacent to the overland vehicle. Still further, separate electrical connections must be made to the portion of the assembly which projects light into this region, thereby adding complexity to the wire harness that must be provided to service such a mirror, especially if this mirror incorporates an electrochromic type mirror which must also be provided with a source of electrical power in order to operate. These somewhat larger exterior mirror housings, of course, detract from the aesthetic appearance of the overland vehicle which is equipped with same and may not be useful on smaller or more compact vehicle platforms.
In the present invention, the inventors have departed from the teachings of the prior art by providing a novel arrangement which, in a first mode of operation, permits the electromagnetic radiation assembly to operate as an exterior warning lamp that can alert operators of vehicles traveling in adjacent lanes; and which further, in a second mode of operation, will emit visible light which is operable to illuminate the adjacent area and region along the side of the vehicle to assist an operator or passenger who is either entering or exiting the vehicle or working along same during periods of reduced visibility.
These and other aspects of the present invention will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter.